Back in March, art-rock bank Viet Cong were criticised for their “offensive” name. Earlier this year, a gig in Ohio was cancelled to protest the group’s name, which refers to the military force that fought the south Vietnamese government and the US during the Vietnam war. The group have now decided, after conversations with “members of the Vietnamese community”, to change their moniker.

In the proceeding months, it appears that band members have debated both sides of the argument, and have settled on scrapping the name – although they have yet to think of a new one. The band released a statement on 19 September that explained their decision and said they are “not here to cause pain or remind people of atrocities of the past”.

“Art and music are about creative expression. However, our band name is not our cause, and we are not going to fight for it,” they wrote. “This is not what our band is about.”

The Canadian group said they had been planning on changing their name for several months, but it had “not been an easy decision”.

The news may disappoint Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, who came out in support of their creative decisions, saying: “We can all think of dozens of bands with really quite offensive names, and as soon as you get into being the guardian of public morality, taking it upon yourself to decide what’s OK and what is not, you’re acting in an illiberal, undemocratic and anti-progressive way.”

The group formerly known as Viet Cong said: “We don’t know what the new name of our band will be, and we owe it to our fans to honour the concerts we have booked. We rushed into our last band-name decision. We don’t plan to rush into this one, but know that will be rolling out a new name as soon as we agree upon one.”